After a two day “layover” at home, it’s back on the road for me. Sometimes my planning is downright unfortunate, and this is one of those instances. Late last year I had booked a couple of mileage runs to Spain to get a jump start on Executive Platinum qualification for the year. It pays to book early, since it meant I was able to lock in upgrades to business class for all my segments. Besides, three days in Barcelona (a city I’ve never been to) doesn’t sound half bad.

Unfortunately this was before American announced double elite qualifying miles for the month of January, and as luck would have it, both of my trips were planned for February. I couldn’t help but book a quick trip to Shanghai in January to rack up nearly 45,000 elite qualifying miles, though I had totally forgotten my return flight from Shanghai would be only two days before my flight to Barcelona.

The bad news (or good news, depending on how you look at it) is that my sleep schedule has been totally screwed up the past couple of nights. I slept from 4PM till 2AM last night, and the previous night slept from 5PM to 1AM… so I guess I’m kinda sorta already on Barcelona time.

The bad news (or once again good news, depending on how you look at it) is my routing — I’m flying from Tampa to Barcelona via Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. Yes, that’s redeyes two nights in a row. All flights are scheduled to have wifi, though, so it’s all good.

Anyway, stay tuned, as it should be a fun couple of days. If you’d like to follow me on Twitter you can do so here, as I tend to have a lot to complain about say when flying.

Now if only the weather were a bit warmer in Barcelona…

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

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Since my friend was returning on the Lufthansa flight to Seattle and I was returning to Orlando, we got to the airport at around 9AM (even though my flight was only at 1PM). Since we had stayed at the Westin we took a taxi to the First Class Terminal, given that it’s a bit further from the train station than the InterContinental.

The First Class Terminal experience was as it always is – awesome. We were immediately greeted by our personal assistant, who actually recognized me from a previous trip, which I thought was impressive given how many guests they have. Of course I immediately asked her whether my flight would feature the new first class, and after researching it she informed me it wasn’t. Booo!

First Class Terminal exterior

Upon arrival we headed straight to the restaurant for lunch, since we had skipped breakfast at the Westin. As usual I selected a few things from the buffet, along with a pretzel and Fanta – my last one for a while, unfortunately.

First Class Terminal bar

Buffet

Lunch

Holy Fanta

After lunch I got caught up on email for a couple of hours, until my personal assistant advised me it was time for boarding. She brought me down to the lower level where I cleared passport control and was introduced to the driver.

Once again I was driven in one of the Mercedes vans, given that there were three other people in the First Class Terminal on my flight – one first class passenger from Tampa (a blog reader, no less), and a HON Circle member and his son traveling in business class.

The ride to the plane was pretty quick, and at the door the driver handed us over to the crew, who directed us to the upper deck.

Our 747

Our 747

Lufthansa 464
Frankfurt (FRA) – Orlando (MCO)
Sunday, January 1
Depart: 1:35PM
Arrive: 5:55PM
Duration: 10hr20min
Aircraft: Boeing 747
Seat: 82C (First Class)

Within moments of settling in the very friendly flight attendant offered me something to drink. I just ordered a glass of still water, which was served with macadamia nuts and refilled at least three or four times before our departure.

Row 82

View from row 82

Small bins on the side of the seat

Pre-departure drink and nuts

He also offered me the Lufthansa amenity kit and polo shirt, which is their standard daytime amenity. I almost immediately changed into the pajamas from my previous flight, since I was planning on getting some sleep.

Amenities

Before pushback the captain came on the PA to advise us of a slight delay as they needed to unload some checked bags from no show passengers, which caused about a 20-minute delay. He informed us of our flight time of ten hours, anticipating just a slightly delayed arrival in Orlando.

The captain provided multiple updates, and sure enough within 20 or so minutes we pushed back (with four of the eight first class seats taken) and began a quick taxi to the runway, where we were cleared for takeoff almost immediately.

Taxiing out

TAM 777

Shortly after takeoff

After takeoff

Now this is where the flight gets interesting, at least for me, and why this flight was different than any other international first class trip I’ve taken. When flying first class I always try to “maximize.” Previously I defined that as stuffing myself with as much food as possible and staying awake the whole time so I didn’t miss anything. In a way, it’s almost why I prefer flying business class, because in business class I don’t quite feel the need to “maximize” as much. Instead, I’m happy to just get as much sleep as I can.

But let’s face it, after flying Airbus 380 first class for 20+ hours, Lufthansa’s old first class product wasn’t all that exciting. So I decided to go straight to sleep and instead eat my main meal prior to landing. If nothing else it would be a good comparison not only in how well rested I arrive, but also in regards to how the crew handles such a situation.

And sure enough this was one of my most enjoyable, relaxing flights ever. I don’t think I’ve ever arrived as refreshed.

View on climb out

Beautiful day

As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off I informed the flight attendant of my intent to sleep and eat later. To say this guy was professional is the understatement of the year. Hell, the one part I regret about sleeping is not being able to interact with him more.

With each interaction he addressed me by name, and he immediately made my bed and brought me a bottle of water. He also brought me the menu and asked me to make my selection for later, so that he could ensure that my first choice is still available.

He then asked when I wanted to be woken up. I was serious about my plan of sleeping the whole way, so asked him to wake me up in eight hours if I don’t otherwise wake up earlier on my own. He wished me a pleasant rest, closed all the window shades in my vicinity, and even promised to keep the noise level down so that I can get uninterrupted sleep. He ended by saying that the purser really quickly wanted to welcome me aboard, if that’s alright, so she quickly appeared to wish me a pleasant sleep.

Half of the battle of trying to sleep on an airplane is telling yourself that you want to sleep. Typically part of the reason I can’t sleep when flying is because I’m asking myself whether I should be watching a movie, working, or something else. This time around I literally said to myself “you’re sleeping for the next eight hours, so make it happen.” And sure enough I did. I woke up about two hours out of Orlando, and within moments of waking up the flight attendant appeared unsolicited and asked if I had a good sleep and was ready to eat.

I was, and so the meal service commenced. Before starting the meal I decided on a movie to watch, and chose “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” And I don’t know how I watched it!

Movie

The lunch menu read as follows:

I was curious to see if my choice to dine later would translate into a watered down experience, but sure enough it didn’t. He did everything exactly the same way as they’d do during the normal service, and the food tasted equally fresh. He even brought me the signature Lufthansa rose as the meal service began.

Rose

Instead of having a starter I decided on both soup and salad, starting with the soup, which was delicious.

Soup

Following that the salad was served with a honey mustard type dressing, which was also delicious.

Salad

For the main course I ordered the ravioli, which was surprisingly tasty. I know it’s a “safe” option, but on Lufthansa I tend to err on the side of caution because I feel like they try to hard with their entrees.

Ravioli

For dessert I had the chocolate cake, which was also good.

Dessert

As the meal finished up I was offered pralines, and ordered a White Russian to go along with it.

Pralines

As my meal finished up the pre-arrival meal service was well underway. Obviously I didn’t partake in that, though for those of you that are interested, the menu read as follows:

About 30 minutes out the sun began to set and we began our descent into Orlando. The purser once again came by to bid all first class passengers farewell.

Approaching Florida

Almost home!

On approach

Immigration was quick (thanks Global Entry!), so despite a slightly delayed arrival I was on the curb within 10 minutes.

And so wrapped up another great trip on my favorite airline. I can’t say enough positive things about Lufthansa flight attendants, especially on this trip. I guess part of the reason I like to stay up on international first class flights is because I love to experience the small touches that make the difference between a pleasant flight and a memorable one. I don’t think there’s an airline that on the whole delivers more genuine, professional, and personable service than Lufthansa.

My perception is that the first class flight attendants aren’t nice because they have to be, but are genuinely engaging and love what they do. It’s those service experiences you have where you can’t help but say to yourself “how on earth is this person so friendly despite having no direct incentive to be?” And I guess it comes down to actually having pride in one’s job.

Oh, and as far as sleeping for eight hours goes, it was awesome. I arrived so well rested, and don’t feel like I missed out on any part of the experience. As a matter of fact, whenever possible I plan on having my “main” meal before landing from now on. It’s tough to sleep on a full stomach, so it was awesome to be able to have lunch on the ground in the First Class Terminal, get a good night of sleep, have a nice meal aboard, and arrive well rested.

In the end, I’d say I did a damn good job “maximizing.”

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

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We took the 6:30AM “Friendly Airport Limousine” to Narita Airport, arriving at around 8AM. We were dropped off at terminal 1, which is the Star Alliance terminal.

Terminal 1

The terminal really is a brilliant example of how alliances can improve the customer experience. Instead of segregating check-in by airline, all airlines share ground staff. There are separate counters for coach, business class, first class, and Star Gold members.

Star Alliance terminal

We headed to the “B” counter, which is for first class, though once the agent verified that we were actually in first class, she escorted us over to the private first class check-in area. It’s a pretty sleek separate room that’s well staffed and has a shortcut to immigration and security.

First class check-in counters

First class check-in

First class check-in seating area

Check-in was friendly and efficient, and within a few minutes we were issued our boarding passes for seats 2D & 2G.

We cleared security in no-time, and headed straight for the ANA first class lounge.

Terminal

ANA’s lounges are by no means the best in the world, though the first class lounge is usually pretty quiet, and I like the way it’s decorated.

First class lounge

What I always find bizarre about the service in the lounge is that the moment you settle in one of the staff comes by to offer you a cold towel and drink, though that’s the last you’ll see of them. They don’t do refills. I don’t understand why, but as with many things in Japan, they have a procedure and follow it without exception.

The food in the lounge is somewhat lacking, though they do have a noodle bar, so I ordered something from there.

Snack selection

Snack selection

Booze

Noodles

At around 10AM we headed down to gate 45, where our flight was departing from. Boarding was well under way, though the dedicated priority boarding lane meant we didn’t have to wait.

A380 taking us to Frankfurt

Priority boarding lane

Lufthansa 711
Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Saturday, December 31
Depart: 10:25AM
Arrive: 2:15PM
Duration: 11hr50min
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Seat: 2D (First Class)

Once on board we were greeted by the same spectacular crew we had on the way out. It was pretty funny because as soon as I settled in the flight attendant said to me “it’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Lucky,” which got some weird looks from the guy seated across from me.

Service started with champagne and macadamia nuts.

Champagne and macadamia nuts

We were also offered pajamas and amenity kits. Interestingly, Lufthansa only offers a polo shirt on daytime flights from Germany to the US, though they offer full pajamas on flights from Japan to Germany. I’m not sure if it’s because of the length of the flight or because of competition in the market, but it’s just something interesting to note.

Pajamas and amenity kits

By the time boarding was complete, six of the eight first class seats were taken.

The captain came on the PA to announce the flight time of 11hr10min, and within a few minutes we pushed back and began a long taxi to the runway.

Taxiing to the runway

Airborne!

Shortly after takeoff

Within about ten minutes of being airborne the seatbelt sign was turned off and service commenced, starting once again with the purser passing through the cabin to welcome us aboard and distribute menus.

Menu and wine list

The service in first class today was a bit different than on the outbound. The couple seated in row one was Japanese, so as a result they had a Japanese flight attendant working first class, along with the same excellent male flight attendant that also happens to be a trainer.

While I only talked to the male flight attendant about this later in the flight, it would probably be most useful to mention it now for context. I had no clue that Lufthansa actually has flight attendants based at many of their destinations, including Delhi, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The issue, as he explained, is that they don’t speak a word of German. So if there’s one passenger in first class that prefers to communicate in Japanese, then a German-speaking passenger is often forced to communicate in English with that flight attendant.

Obviously the guy wasn’t a huge fan of the program, explaining that Lufthansa is first and foremost a German airline, and a German passenger shouldn’t be forced to communicate in a language other than German (which I agree with).

But what’s interesting is that the Japanese flight attendant working first class recently moved to Germany to work for Lufthansa, though didn’t speak German yet. She was taking German classes, but obviously it takes a while to learn a third language. It was her first time working first class, so the trainer did everything he could to teach her.

Both of these flight attendants were spectacularly amazingly phenomenal. The male flight attendant was awesome for the reasons I discussed in the review of the outbound – he was personable, professional, sincere, and had a great sense of humor.

The Japanese flight attendant, while not nearly as experienced or polished as the trainer, had one of those smiles that just can’t help but put you in a great mood. Her friendliness and sincerity had me sitting there throughout the entire meal service with a huge smile on my face. I had the chance to talk to her for a while, and it was clear that she loved what she was doing and wanted to give 110% to prove it.

I ordered a Diet Coke with lemon to start, which was served with a hot towel. That was followed by the amuse bouche, which, as usual, looked a lot better than it tasted.

Diet Coke with lemon

Amuse bouche

The lunch menu read as follows:

After that the table was setup, again with such precision and care that it couldn’t help but make me smile.

Table setup

The meal started with the appetizer cart being rolled around. Usually they’ll let you choose as many as you’d like, but the senior guy working the cabin insisted on us choosing as many as we wanted but him serving them to us one at a time so we could enjoy each one.

My first starter was caviar, followed by salmon. Both were great.

Caviar

Salmon

That was followed by a salad, which was also tasty.

Salad

Neither of the main courses interested me much, though I went with the beef option. The meat was so tough that I couldn’t even cut it with a knife, so I didn’t even touch the entree. The flight attendant felt awful about it, and my friend tried the other entree.

I was full, so just sent it back.

Braised beef

Sea bream

Instead I had both the cheese plate and cheesecake, both of which were delicious.

Cheese plate

Cheesecake

The meal service finished off with a box of pralines being passed around.

Pralines

Cabin after meal service

Our flight path took us far North (apparently more so than usual), and the views were pretty spectacular most of the way. You’ve gotta love the tail camera. As a result it was actually dark for most of the flight.

Our route

Awesome views

I spent some time talking to the rest of the crew in business class (the flight was again fairly empty, with no more than 30 of the 98 business class seats taken).

The crew was very junior, and I’d guess that not a single flight attendant in business class was over 30. Later I found out why. Apparently Lufthansa separates their crews not based on trip distance or regions, but rather based on aircraft type. You can either work their Boeing fleet (737 and 747) or their Airbus fleet (A320/330/340/380). Beyond that, flying the A380 takes a special certification.

As the senior male trainer explained to me, “the senior flight attendants didn’t want to have to get used to something new, and weren’t convinced the plane could get off the ground, while the young people jumped on it immediately.” He explained that he and the purser were the most senior on the flight by about 15 years, and that it went way down from there.

With about six hours to go to Frankfurt it was time for a nap, so I requested my bed be made. I got a solid two hours of sleep (it was a daytime flight, after all), at which point the flight attendants came around with a cart containing finger sandwiches and cakes. I always find it interesting that Lufthansa doesn’t really have a mid-flight snack menu, even in first class on longhaul flights. So while I wasn’t really hungry, I picked out a couple of things to snack on.

View from reclined seat

Mid-flight snack

I then decided to watch a movie, and went with “Horrible Bosses,” which was hilarious. After that I napped for another hour or so, at which point dinner was served.

Entertainment system

The menu read as follows:

Once again my table was set with great precision, and the flight attendant was a quick learner, as he immediately loaded my bread plate with pretzel bread.

Table setup

The roast beef starter was delicious, as was the pasta entree. If only they would have served that with the first meal.

Roast beef rolls

Linguine

The dessert wasn’t all that great, though.

Dessert

After dessert I had an espresso.

Espresso

About 30 minutes out of Frankfurt the captain came on the PA, and it slowly dawned on me that our awesome A380 experience was coming to an end. This time around the weather in Frankfurt was rather nasty, so we hit a few bumps on the way down.

Tail camera

After a five minute taxi we made it to our gate, where I had to grab one last picture of our bird.

Upon arrival in Frankfurt

Immigration queues were rather long, and I nearly got in a fight with a teenage Brit waiting in line that was trying to mock me for being an American (I shut him up pretty quickly when I pointed to my EU passport). Once through immigration we hopped in a cab to the Westin Grand Frankfurt, where we would be spending the night.

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

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Lufthansa 710
Frankfurt (FRA) – Tokyo Narita (NRT)
Wednesday, December 28
Depart: 1:25PM
Arrive: 8:35AM (+1 day)
Duration: 11hr10min
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Seat: 2D (First Class)

Once aboard we headed left into the eight-seat first class cabin, which is in the nose on the upper deck (unlike Qantas, where it’s on the lower deck). While there are definitely airlines with more glamorous first class suites on the A380, Lufthansa’s cabin is remarkably elegant and understated, at least as a relative matter. There are no massive suites, but rather just an “open” cabin with just the right amount of privacy.

Anyway, as soon as we made it to our seats we were greeted by the first class flight attendant, who was spectacular. He was actually apparently a flight attendant trainer and only works about two trips a month. If this guy is training other flight attendants, then Lufthansa’s new hires are in good hands.

First Class cabin

Before I get into the service too much, let’s discuss the seats. Like I said, they’re not all that private, though they do have privacy shields on both sides if you’re not traveling with someone. The seats have amazing padding, better than just about any other product I’ve flown. So in the upright position, the seat is as comfortable as they get.

Seats 2D & 2G

Each seat has an ottoman which doubles as a storage compartment, given that there are no overhead bins in first class.

Seats 2D & 2G

Seat 2A

Seats 1A & 2A

Ottoman/store compartment

Beyond the ottoman, the seat also has a storage compartment in the center section for glasses, headphones, etc.

Seat storage

Then towards the back of the seat is a cup holder and a deeper storage compartment.

More storage

Here’s something truly unique about Lufthansa’s first class cabin on the A380. As I said earlier, there are no overhead bins in the first class cabin so that it feels a bit more spacious, which is a trend with many new first class products nowadays. Instead, each first class passengers gets their own private compartment behind the first class cabin which they can lock. Many airlines have small lockers, but these are actually massive and fit not only a 22″ carry-on, but have room for a laptop bag, clothes, etc. Really well done, Lufthansa.

Storage compartments

Now back to the actual flight. As soon as we settled in the awesome first class flight attendant offered us drinks. We both ordered champagne, which was served with Lufthansa’s signature macadamia nuts.

Pre-departure champagne and nuts

We were then offered amenity kits, slippers, and pajamas, which I changed into immediately.

Amenity kit, slippers, and pajamas

Pajamas

We were also offered Bose noise canceling headphones. This is a massive improvement over Lufthansa’s previous cheap headphones (not that you can’t use your own, but still).

Headphones

As departure time rolled around the captain came on the PA to welcome us aboard and advise us of our flight time of 10hr20min, anticipating an on-time arrival in Tokyo.

As the door closed there were three other passengers in first class — a couple seated in 1D & 1G, and an older guy seated in 2K (he wasn’t previously on the seatmap, so I suspect he may have upgraded at the airport). For takeoff I moved over to 2A.

Jet bridge retracted

After a 10 minute taxi we made it to the runway, where we were almost immediately cleared for takeoff. Lufthansa has a tail camera on the Airbus 380, which is the coolest thing ever. The other amazing thing about the Airbus 380 is how quiet it is. Even during take off, you can’t really tell the engines are even on.

Taking off

Shortly after takeoff

Rainy day

About 10 minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off and I headed back to 2D, where I also turned on the tail camera. The weather was starting to look nicer a few miles up!

Tail camera

Beautiful day at last

The purser appeared within a few minutes of the seatbelt sign being turned off. As is usually the case on Lufthansa, she was engaging and reminded us that we could eat whenever we wanted to. She also presented us with the menu and briefly explained it, given that there’s a Western and Japanese selection. She also emphasized the wine list and encouraged me to do a wine sampling if I wanted to.

Cabin after takeoff

Our awesome flight attendant appeared within a few minutes to take our lunch orders. Seriously, this guy had first class service down to a science. He was the perfect combination of professional and personable at the same time, which many flight attendants lack. We asked to have lunch in two hours, and he advised us to let him know if we wanted anything in the meantime.

I took the opportunity to explore the cabin, starting with the two (identical) restrooms located in front of the first class cabin. Lufthansa’s first class restrooms are massive, with a bench and even a urinal.

First class bathroom

First class bathroom (urinal is what’s covered in the distance)

Between the two lavatories are the stairs leading to the lower deck, though they’re blocked off during flight (apparently to prevent drunk people from falling).

Stairs

I then headed back to business class, which was empty as I’ve ever seen before. There are 98 seats, though no more than a dozen were occupied. While the cabin was huge and featured Lufthansa’s “old” business class product, I’d still fly it in a heartbeat given how much I love the Airbus 380.

The funny thing is that the cabin was still fully staffed, so there were about six or seven flight attendants taking care of 12 or so passengers. The crew to passenger ratio was higher than in first class!

Business class

Yes, this is how empty the cabin was in-flight

Empty cabin!

Wing view from business class

When I got back to my seat I watched a couple of sitcoms on the in-flight entertainment, and before I knew it our flight attendant approached with hot towels in preparation for lunch.

Hot towel

The lunch menu read as follows:

As tempting as the “cockle” and “men” sounded on the Japanese menu, I stuck with the western cuisine (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

Service started with an amuse bouche. As usual on Lufthansa, I’m fairly certain they do everything in their power to make it as disgusting as possible (don’t hate me, it’s just my taste — or lack thereof).

Amuse bouche

After my table was set the appetizer cart was brought through the aisle, and I ordered some caviar.

Starter

I also ordered the salad, which was quite delicious and served with an herb vinaigrette. Our flight attendant was sure to keep me well stocked on pretzel bread throughout the meal.

Salad

For the main course I actually ordered the tenderloin of beef off the Japanese menu. Since they have a Japanese menu on flights to Japan, they only have two western entrees, and neither interested me. So while I didn’t think the beef was especially good, it was certainly edible.

Tenderloin of beef

The main course was served with rice and miso soup.

Miso soup

My friend ordered the roast goose off the Western menu, which he enjoyed.

Roast goose

For dessert I had the “Vanilla! Vanilla!” option. My only question is who at Lufthansa is responsible for naming things on menus?

Dessert

I also had a fruit plate, which was tasty.

Fruit plate

For dessert I had a cappuccino, which was served with some pralines.

Cappuccino

Pralines

After lunch, about four hours into the flight, the flight attendant offered turndown service, which I gladly accepted given that I was getting tired and I wanted to be fairly well rested for our morning arrival in Tokyo.

Turndown service

The mattress pad and duvet were among the best I’ve experienced, a huge improvement over the product they have on their 747 and Airbus 330/340 aircraft.

Turndown service

I wasn’t quite as tried as I thought I was, so I watched “Friends With Benefits,” which was pretty funny.

Movie time!

I ended up getting a couple of hours of sleep, and woke up about 90 minutes out of Tokyo, at which point breakfast service began, starting with the menu and hot towels being distributed.

Menu and hot towel

The breakfast menu read as follows:

For breakfast I had some fresh squeezed orange juice, muesli and a croissant with Nutella to start.

Breakfast

Then as the main I had eggs with chives, which was delicious. If only more airlines freshly prepare egg dishes aboard…

Scrambled eggs

At this point the sun was slowly starting to rise, and before we knew it the captain was on the PA to advise us that we were 30 minutes out of Tokyo and that the seatbelt sign would be turned on soon. At the same time the purser walked around the cabin once again to bid all the first class passengers farewell.

Sunrise

I changed out of my pajamas and stored my carry-ons in the locker, and once again took the window seat for landing, accompanied by the tail camera.

As usual, the tail camera views were awesome. We had a smooth touch down and about five minute taxi to the gate, where we said goodbye to the crew.

Tail camera

Tail camera

Tail camera

It took the ground crew a bit of time to get the upper deck jet bridge connected, though once it was we began our 15 minute walk to immigration.

Our plane upon arrival

The wait at immigration was very short, and we found ourselves in the arrivals hall in no time. We went to the “Friendly Airport Limousine” counter, where we purchased tickets to the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Unfortunately the next bus was only in an hour, though we had no problem passing that time walking around Narita Airport.

Arrivals hall

Arrivals board

As usual Lufthansa first class was spectacular. And the fact that this flight was on the Airbus 380 made it even more spectacularerer. While Lufthansa doesn’t have the most cutting edge hard product, the cabin was as elegant as I’ve ever seen. As usual (always?), service was phenomenal. The best part was that we’d have the same fantastic crew returning two days later back to Frankfurt, so we had that to look forward to. But in the meantime it was off to the not-so-shabby Park Hyatt…

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

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For whatever reason the InterContinental Frankfurt has become my go-to hotel in Frankfurt, and I’ve previously reviewed it here and here. I seem to book it by default without ever looking at other options, since Frankfurt really isn’t all that of an exciting market on the hotel front. With that in mind, I’ll keep this review nice and short.

The hotel is only about a five minute walk from the train station, so despite the cold weather, the walk wasn’t all that bad even for my Floridian self.

Exterior

Check-in was efficient and friendly, and I was informed that we were upgraded to a studio suite with club access. At a rate of 107 Euros per night all-in, that’s a pretty great deal

The studio suites are corners rooms, and in this case we were assigned a room on the 18th floor.

It’s a lot more on the “studio” than “suite” side, given that it’s basically just a large standard room with a seating area.

Studio Suite

Studio Suite

The hotel has a pretty decent minibar, which is complimentary as a Royal Ambassador member. Naturally I immediately popped open an ice cold lukewarm Fanta.

Minibar

The welcome amenity consisted of a chocolate bar and bottle of water. While not great, it’s more enjoyable for me than a bottle of wine.

Welcome amenity

The Club InterContinental is located on the top floor and boasts one of the most extensive food spreads of any club lounge I frequent. Because it was the week after Christmas service was limited. In the evenings they had a menu where you could order just about anything from the restaurant, while in the mornings the lounge was closed, so club guests were entitled to breakfast in the restaurant.

I should probably point out that traveling the week around Christmas as an elite member is pretty awesome, since club lounges consistently have limited hours. In 2010 I stayed at the Hyatt Regency Mainz the day before Christmas, and the club lounge was open in the evenings and closed in the mornings, meaning I got complimentary restaurant breakfast in addition to the evening club spread as a Gold Passport Diamond member. That same year I stayed at the InterContinental Frankfurt Christmas Day, and because the club lounge was closed, I was allowed a table at their Christmas Buffet, which would have cost more than the room rate I paid had I made a separate reservation.

Club InterContinental

Club InterContinental

Anyway, since we could select off a menu in the evening I went with a caesar salad and tomato soup. I should have known better than to order either of those things in Germany, though I’m not much of a “meat and potatoes” kinda guy.

Dinner in Club InterContinental

I spent most of the evening watching German TV. If you think Judge Judy is scripted, you ain’t seen German “reality” TV!

The following morning we had breakfast in the restaurant. Given we’d be flying the Lufthansa Airbus 380 and visiting the First Class Terminal I only had eight rolls and Nutella a light breakfast.

Restaurant

Buffet

At around 9:30AM we checked out and took a cab to the airport. Usually I’d take the train, but given that we were departing from the First Class Terminal it was a lot more convenient to take a cab.

As usual the InterContinental Frankfurt didn’t disappoint. While it could certainly use a renovation, the hotel gets the job done, and the rates are always reasonable. As a Royal Ambassador member I think it’s one of the best values in Frankfurt.

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

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Upon arrival we headed down the long corridor to the transfer area, where we had to switch terminals by train. The trains at Zurich Airport are pretty awesome, since they make cow noises and have animated scenes of the alps. You can always tell who’s an American in the airport train, since they’re usually giggling uncontrollably (that includes me)!

Upon arrival

The Zurich terminal is beautiful and airy (everything I’m not), though we headed straight for the first class lounge.

Terminal

Terminal

First Class Lounge entrance

We were welcomed at the entrance of the lounge and tried to find two seats together. The first class lounge isn’t especially large, though very nicely appointed. It has a main seating area overlooking the tarmac, a restaurant area, several sleeping rooms, and showers. In a way it’s very similar to the Lufthansa first class lounges, though I’d say just a notch below in terms of service and the food/drink offerings.

At the time we arrived the lounge was packed, as several flights were leaving to the Middle East, India, and the US. The pictures below were snapped at the end of our layover, when we had the lounge to ourselves.

Lounge

Lounge

After briefly checking my email I requested a shower room. The showers feature Bulgari amenities, which happen to be my favorite.

Shower room

Bulgari amenities

After a shower I snagged one of the nap rooms for a bit of shut eye. The lounge attendant asked what time I wanted to be woken up, and I requested 1PM, which was 45 minutes before our departure.

Swiss nap rooms are a lot better than Lufthansa’s, since they’re actually beds, unlike Lufthansa’s day beds. They also have pretty cool lighting.

Day room

Sure enough, with Swiss precision there was an angry sounding Swiss lady outside my door at 1PM sharp — “VAKE UP ITS VUN PEE EMM YOU VILL FLY SOON.”

After waking up and getting ready to leave the lounge we were informed that our flight to Frankfurt was actually delayed by about 20 minutes due to fog.

Knowing how crappy Lufthansa’s intra-Europe catering is, I had a look at the buffet.

Buffet

Who cares about the rest, I see Fanta!

Salad bar

I settled for a bit of salad and lasagna, accompanied by an almighty Fanta.

Lunch

At around 1:30PM we left the lounge and headed for our departure gate, which was a 30 second walk away.